The future of EJ Manuel

[BillsFan3434]

I am so very sorry if you feel this should be included in all the other threads but I really felt it would be lost and I thought it would be worth mentioning and I would truly and sincerely like as much input on this as possible.

 

First and foremost, I am from Ohio and have been a Bills fan my entire life, and the thing about the Bills is you just don't stop being a fan. So chances are I'll be a Bills fan for life although it is quite difficult at times. That being said, I'll admit I was one that was watching Teddy Bridgewater on Sunday and posted a comment on one of the threads and kept asking myself "How do we continue to get this wrong time and time again, yet a team like the Vikings takes a QB with the last pick in the 1st round and darn near strike gold".

 

Which brings me to the main point of making this thread. Please watch this video and the ONLY play, I really want to emphasize because the rest of the video I could really care less, the ONLY play I want you to watch then you can close the video starts at 0:26.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuwOOMNq2bE

 

If you would like to chime in, the question I would like answered is: Has EJ ever in his entire NFL career made this throw because Bridgewater initially has a clean pocket but after about 2 seconds he has a defender coming at him from the blind side and another defender with a full head of steam coming at him. Yet delivers a ball, on time and on target, to a receiver running full speed across the field. The ball is not behind him, above him, too low. It is precisely where it needs to be where it needs to be 30 yards from the quarterback.

 

So bottom line, can you pin point a time EJ has made this throw, if so, good on you, if not, do you believe seeing what you have inevitably saw over the past 14 games, has he shown any improvement whatsoever on being able to make that throw?

 

Thanks guys and Go Bills.

Edited October 1, 2014 by BillsFan3434

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

A few responses:

 

1) IN

 

2) This is some highlight reel....and it was his first game. I agree that there are a lot of throws in there that EJ has never successfully made. And Bridgewater seems to have great presence in the pocket, mobility, and accuracy. Sad, but looks like we missed on another guy.

[YoloinOhio]

Sigh. Bridgewater looks amazing.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Sigh. Bridgewater looks amazing.

 

Look at the simple slant at about 11 seconds. That's the kind of sharp pass that I envision Sammy catching and taking 40 yards.

[BillsFan3434]

I don't think this will catch anybody off-guard, but if EJ played like this through 4 games, not only would he still be our starting quarterback, we also have a 90% + chance we are 4-0.

[DC Tom]

He has no future; after this, his confidence is completely shot.

[jahnyc]

One game, but he looked decisive and quick.

[bg17]

But Teddy had such a bad pro day. I don't get it.

[YoloinOhio]

I'm not sure if this is the right thread for this, and no I don't remember seeing EJ make that throw but that doesn't mean it never happened. But I seriously feel like he looked better last year as a rookie, than he does now. He did all that offseason training with the QB guru, kapernick, etc and got the new QB coach. Plus Hackett, marrone, orton. Maybe it was too many people in his ear and his whole world is a soup sandwich.

[papazoid]

EJ's career is far from over.

 

pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back to work.

 

your just one hit away from getting back in there.

 

get ready !!

[Bangarang]

EJ is done in Buffalo. He was just never that good. He'll likely get cut once we hire our new coach and GM and he will bounce around for a few years.

[Bronc24]

But Teddy had such a bad pro day. I don't get it.

 

Exactly. One huge problem is that the "experts" see something like a few missed throws at a Pro Day and report it ad nauseum, causing GM's to ignore scores of game tape and get gun shy on draft day. Unbelievable.

[KOKBILLS]

Exactly. One huge problem is that the "experts" see something like a few missed throws at a Pro Day and report it ad nauseum, causing GM's to ignore scores of game tape and get gun shy on draft day. Unbelievable.

 

Agreed...

 

Bridgewater looked like a sure fire top 5 pick during most of his College career...But the paralysis from over analysis set in after that Pro Day...I'm not saying Bridgewater is the next big thing or anything like that...But considering what he did in College, and the fact that he plays the QB position, I don't think there is much doubt he should have gone a bit higher than #32 overall...

 

I should also mention concerning the the topic that I don't think there was ever a time that anyone analyzing the NFL Draft felt that EJ was a better pro prospect than Teddy...Sure EJ has the prototypical size...But Bridgewater was always considered the better prospect...

Edited October 1, 2014 by KOKBILLS

[The Bunk]

Normally when the college fan base of the player you drafted thinks you made a big mistake, you know. I'm an FSU guy and i'll always have love for EJ, i was literally following him since he was a high school senior when i knew he was coming to FSU. But, he simply doesn't have what it takes. Great kid, works to be better but sometimes hard work isn't enough, you have it or you don't. I hope he catches on somewhere(Maybe even in Buffalo) but i doubt it. Was a terrible QB class, Buddy Nix waited too long to get the QB of the future. Onto the next one.

[QCity]

One game, but he looked decisive and quick.

 

Yeah his decisiveness looks incredible. Everything he does just looks quick. God, that video is so depressing.

[Bangarang]

Exactly. One huge problem is that the "experts" see something like a few missed throws at a Pro Day and report it ad nauseum, causing GM's to ignore scores of game tape and get gun shy on draft day. Unbelievable.

 

I still can't believe that years of dominance and spectacular play at Louisville was completely forgotten because of an hour in shorts.

[Maury Ballstein]

 

 

Yeah his decisiveness looks incredible. Everything he does just looks quick. God, that video is so depressing.

 

This. Teddy looked like he was flying out of the pocket.

 

Pro day/Senior bowl nonsense is how we ended up w EJ. Bridgewater was lights out in college.

 

It just keeps getting worse.

[jr1]

Titan shouldn't have to move away from his dog friends

[TheFunPolice]

You know a good rule of thumb?

 

If a guy cannot throw for 300 yards once in 3/4 of a season (and doesn't get close) he probably will never be any good.

 

Jeff freaking Tuel dropped 300 on undefeated KC, who had a good defense, last season. Rookies come in and throw for 300 in their first games. Yet for EJ it seems impossible (heck, for most QBs the Bills have had for the past decade aside from Bledsoe and Fitzpatrick it seemed impossible).

 

You don't need 300 every game, but barely cracking 220 or so in today's NFL means you are not making enough plays in the passing game.

Edited October 1, 2014 by TheFunPolice

[Rob's House]

This Bridgewater guy needs to learn to slide BEFORE the yellow line.

[mannc]

I don't think this will catch anybody off-guard, but if EJ played like this through 4 games, not only would he still be our starting quarterback, we also have a 90% + chance we are 4-0.

I think Vikings fans might be saying the same thing. Why did Cassel start the first 3 games?

 

Normally when the college fan base of the player you drafted thinks you made a big mistake, you know. I'm an FSU guy and i'll always have love for EJ, i was literally following him since he was a high school senior when i knew he was coming to FSU. But, he simply doesn't have what it takes.

I only saw EJ play one game in college-- vs Florida his senior year. It was a pathetic performance. I knew after watching just that one game that he could not play. Edited October 1, 2014 by mannc

[fridge]

Jeff freaking Tuel dropped 300 on undefeated KC, who had a good defense, last season.

 

You don't need 300 every game, but barely cracking 220 or so in today's NFL means you are not making enough plays in the passing game.

 

...He did not throw for 300 yards. He threw 1 TD and 2 INTs for 229 yards in an unwatchable performance.

 

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201311030buf.htm

 

Also, your point fell on deaf ears. Yeah throwing for 300 yards is great. If you make that an emphasis or criteria for success you're doing it wrong. See: Superbowl, 2013.

[johnwalter]

*sigh* [ see my post in the pre-draft thread: "Should Buffalo draft 1 of the 3 QBs at #9 if they're there?" ]

 

Posted 23 March 2014 - 03:20 PM

if the FO truly believes that EJ has a > 70% chance of becoming our franchise guy then i do not believe that they should draft a qb at 1. (football success is a probability, and i think ~70% is about the threshold that i'm comfortable with.) our FO got woods right, got kiko right, got FA 2013 right, got gilmore and glenn right, and im starting to trust them, so i'm willing to go along with their assessment of EJ.

 

that said, i really hate the idea of passing on bridgewater. i watch a fair amount of college football and i think this guy is a lot more of a sure thing than he's getting credit for in the media right now. i challenge you to find one game from the last two years that makes your nervous about drafting him. maybe it's because of the style of quarterbacks i've seen fail in a bills uniform, but i have more of an affinity for the guys who win by making the right decisions and are comfortable in a muddy pocket than i do for the guys drafted for their physical upside or arm talent. when you read criticisms of bridgewater what are the real reasons given for the authors doubt...

 

that he doesn't 'look like' a quarterback (too skinny)?

wilson and brady should have taught you better than that.

 

that he had a subpar pro-day?

funny how everyone says pro days don't mean sh*t until a prospect's pro-day performance fits their argument.

 

im starting to get the suspicion that bridgewater is being undersold for two reasons:

1) he's gotten 'boring' because he has been in the conversation for so long, and everyone's just overexcited by new, trendy prospects like bortles

2) 'pocket-passer racism' - that scouts are only comfortable with black quarterbacks when they're five star athletes who they can label as 'mobile'

 

and both of those reason are entirely illegitimate.

[TheFunPolice]

...He did not throw for 300 yards. He threw 1 TD and 2 INTs for 229 yards in an unwatchable performance.

 

http://www.pro-footb...01311030buf.htm

 

Also, your point fell on deaf ears. Yeah throwing for 300 yards is great. If you make that an emphasis or criteria for success you're doing it wrong. See: Superbowl, 2013.

 

Wow I was way off!

 

I was convinced for some reason it was 300 yds...

 

But I'll admit I was mistaken

[SactoBillFan]

IMHO I don't think we've seen the last of EJ.

[Freddie's Dead]

There is no future for EJ Manuel. He is done in Buffalo. I asked in another thread if anyone remembered a QB who came back from a benching. They said Brees for Flutie. I don't remember a benching, I remember Brees getting injured. Even so, that was the only example they could come up with. QB's do not rebound from getting benched. We've seen it here with JP Losman. If EJ does come back, it will be elsewhere, as Brees did in Nawlins.

[reddogblitz]

Which brings me to the main point of making this thread. Please watch this video and the ONLY play, I really want to emphasize because the rest of the video I could really care less, the ONLY play I want you to watch then you can close the video starts at 0:26.

 

I've seen EJ make that throw several times. He did it in the Ravens game last year twice. He's done it other times as well. In my opinion the mid range throw is EJ's wheelhouse.

 

This is not the one I'm thinking of, but also pretty close:

 

http://www.nfl.com/g...ap2000000252065

 

One could put together a very nice 4:00 highlight reel of EJ where he looks every bit as good as Teddy in the one you posed.

 

Come on, Teddy has played one game. Wait til teams game plan for him. I'm not saying he's not good, just waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to early to say.

 

Go BILLS !!

[A Dog Named Kelso]

I believe EJ can be good. I have seen him at the end of games change his demeanor and drop all the pretense he holds on to through out the rest of the game. At that point its as though he knows if he makes a mistake it will not hurt his team, they may have lost anyway. I think EJ has too many voice in his head he is trying to please. People say over coached but I think he is just trying to please everyone. He looked better last year and I believe this year the pressure got to him.

 

If he works hard and shows in practice what he needs to do he will get another chance, if Orton gets hurt he is the next man up. He is a good kid and I hope that he learns to difference between absorbing information into his play and changing everything about what makes him good to please his coaches.

[reddogblitz]

He looked better last year and I believe this year the pressure got to him.

 

I don't know. I thought the first 2 games he looked really good. Especially the Fish game. He threw passes of all lengths. He also threw one 40 yard pass that hit Sammy in the hands that he couldn't bring in for some reason.

 

I too think EJ can still be good. We got him under contract for 2 or 3 more years after this. He's far from done IMHO.

[I 90]

IMHO I don't think we've seen the last of EJ.

 

Nobody more popular than a backup QB. Should the season become comical.

[Hplarrm]

A few responses:

 

 

2) This is some highlight reel....and it was his first game. I agree that there are a lot of throws in there that EJ has never successfully made. And Bridgewater seems to have great presence in the pocket, mobility, and accuracy. Sad, but looks like we missed on another guy.

 

I think it is hard to say the Bills made a dumb pick taking EJ as I think that this choice was fairly predetermined by the Bills giving up on Fitzy (an interesting decision given Fitzy's gritty and successful play Sunday). Bills fans and media have had a virtually psychotic addiction to finding a franchise QB since the end of Jimbo's career.

 

Getting a franchise QB is a good thing, but this desire has become psychotic for the Bills leading to a 15 year series of bad football judgments and pressure to produce immediately that I think has contributed to failed efforts to train up some talented athletes during that time.

 

I think comparing Bridgewater to EJ is pretty senseless since they were in different draft classes. Saying e missed on Bridgewater and took EJ instead makes only slightly more sense than feeling bad because we did not trade up Luck. Yeah so what.

[....lybob]

If he keeps,his nose clean and keeps working I think he has a future in the NFL - look at Alex Smith and Kyle Orton two sometimes favorites here, Smith was miserable for 4 seasons, then was mediocre for two seasons before he finally had a good season,- Kyle Orton got to mediocre his 4th season, then had a couple pretty good seasons with Denver but has only played in 13 games since 2010

[Buffalo Barbarian]

I am so very sorry if you feel this should be included in all the other threads but I really felt it would be lost and I thought it would be worth mentioning and I would truly and sincerely like as much input on this as possible.

 

First and foremost, I am from Ohio and have been a Bills fan my entire life, and the thing about the Bills is you just don't stop being a fan. So chances are I'll be a Bills fan for life although it is quite difficult at times. That being said, I'll admit I was one that was watching Teddy Bridgewater on Sunday and posted a comment on one of the threads and kept asking myself "How do we continue to get this wrong time and time again, yet a team like the Vikings takes a QB with the last pick in the 1st round and darn near strike gold".

 

Which brings me to the main point of making this thread. Please watch this video and the ONLY play, I really want to emphasize because the rest of the video I could really care less, the ONLY play I want you to watch then you can close the video starts at 0:26.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuwOOMNq2bE

 

If you would like to chime in, the question I would like answered is: Has EJ ever in his entire NFL career made this throw because Bridgewater initially has a clean pocket but after about 2 seconds he has a defender coming at him from the blind side and another defender with a full head of steam coming at him. Yet delivers a ball, on time and on target, to a receiver running full speed across the field. The ball is not behind him, above him, too low. It is precisely where it needs to be where it needs to be 30 yards from the quarterback.

 

So bottom line, can you pin point a time EJ has made this throw, if so, good on you, if not, do you believe seeing what you have inevitably saw over the past 14 games, has he shown any improvement whatsoever on being able to make that throw?

 

Thanks guys and Go Bills.

 

I don't need a video of another QB tel me that EJ's accuracy is horrible, always has been always will be. He will stick around for a few yrs and then be done.

 

EJ's career is far from over.

 

pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back to work.

 

your just one hit away from getting back in there.

 

get ready !!

 

<_<

[GunnerBill]

My take on Bridgewater was always that he wasn't sure enough to be a top 5 pick but that his stock post pro-day slid too far based on some bad throws in shorts. He was a mid first round pick all along for me.

 

The point is the fan base wouldn't stick another year rolling with Fitzpatrick. Because Buddy had done nothing to solve the riddle before, they backed themselves into a "must pick a Quarterback" position in 2013. I still maintain that given the choices in that draft EJ Manuel was where I'd have gone, but everyone knew it wasn't a stellar class for Quarterbacks.

 

The 2014 class whilst not having an unquestioned consensus top guy had 4 or 5 guys at the top of it that people felt could, in the right situation, become good Quarterbacks. But having picked a guy in 2013 and taken some lumps I think the Bills would have put thesmelves in a very strange spot going QB in the first again of having no veteran but a rookie and a second year player. If that was the situation I still believe they'd have started EJ and then I think they would have been far less likely to bench EJ at this stage not knowing what they have behind. As it is they have Orton (a known commodity) to go to. The mistake, for me, was giving up next year's first, because as much as I like Sammy Watkins - if EJ didn't work out (looks that way) they are in a hole in 2016. It means they have to go best street FA in the offseason unless Orton tears it up.

Edited October 1, 2014 by GunnerBill

[bladiebla]

What stands out from the vid is how much faster then EJ Bridgewater scans the field and actually seems to process what he is seeing as well as act on it.

[8-8 Forever?]

A few responses:

 

1) IN

 

2) This is some highlight reel....and it was his first game. I agree that there are a lot of throws in there that EJ has never successfully made. And Bridgewater seems to have great presence in the pocket, mobility, and accuracy. Sad, but looks like we missed on another guy.

yes. they missed on luck and pulled the trigger on rd1 qb too early (Manuel) to get Bridgewater, who I loved. But they were all in on EJ so there you go. same old Bills. they find a way

 

EJ will kick around the league for a while and then be gone. Losman 2.0

Edited October 1, 2014 by 8and8Forever

[BuffaloBillsMagic1]

Agreed...

 

Bridgewater looked like a sure fire top 5 pick during most of his College career...But the paralysis from over analysis set in after that Pro Day...I'm not saying Bridgewater is the next big thing or anything like that...But considering what he did in College, and the fact that he plays the QB position, I don't think there is much doubt he should have gone a bit higher than #32 overall...

 

I should also mention concerning the the topic that I don't think there was ever a time that anyone analyzing the NFL Draft felt that EJ was a better pro prospect than Teddy...Sure EJ has the prototypical size...But Bridgewater was always considered the better prospect...

I believe in the snow at Yankee Stadium a few years ago SU blew Louisville away and teddy threw like 5 intss?? Maybe Marrone rememebered this and decided to pass on him since we do play in bad weather at times?

[Big Gun]

I believe in the snow at Yankee Stadium a few years ago SU blew Louisville away and teddy threw like 5 intss?? Maybe Marrone rememebered this and decided to pass on him since we do play in bad weather at times?

 

Thought that was Geno Smith but I could be wrong.

[hondo in seattle]

You know a good rule of thumb?

 

If a guy cannot throw for 300 yards once in 3/4 of a season (and doesn't get close) he probably will never be any good.

 

Jeff freaking Tuel dropped 300 on undefeated KC, who had a good defense, last season. Rookies come in and throw for 300 in their first games. Yet for EJ it seems impossible (heck, for most QBs the Bills have had for the past decade aside from Bledsoe and Fitzpatrick it seemed impossible).

 

You don't need 300 every game, but barely cracking 220 or so in today's NFL means you are not making enough plays in the passing game.

 

This is basically correct. Passer efficiency rating rewards guys who go 10 for 15 for 120 yards. You won't win many games like that. QBs need to be able to put up 300 yard games from time to time.

 

Some QBs develop more quickly than others. I hope EJ becomes great some day. But - so far - on his best days he was a capable game manager. In his young career, he never lit up a defense.

[BillsFan-4-Ever]

and I still think that the future of EJ Manuel is less than 4 weeks away